Bangladesh: Departure of ex-President Hamid abroad sparks uproar

Dhaka: A students’ group in Bangladesh launched a protest on Thursday after former president Abdul Hamid was allowed to leave the country overnight for medical treatment despite being an accused of a murder case.

Bangladesh authorities promised punitive actions against officials who let the former head of state leave for Thailand.

Students’ platform Students against Discrimination (SAD) launched a protest and demanded punitive measures against the people concerned within 24 hours.

“It appears impossible that the government knows nothing about the departure of a former president amidst such tight security,” SAD’s Dinajpur district convenor Ekramul Haque said during the protests.

Home Affairs Adviser retired lieutenant general Jahangir Alam Chowdhury said he was unaware of Hamid’s departure and promised to relinquish his position unless he could expose the officials concerned to punitive actions.

“They (officials concerned) will not be spared in any way,” Chowdhury said amid the protests by the SAD, which led the movement to oust the Awami League regime last year.

Several hundred activists of the SAD staged protests during Chowdhury’s visit to northwestern Dinajpur.

Hamid served as the head of state for two consecutive terms during deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League regime.

He left for medical treatment in Bangkok aboard a Thai Airways flight from Dhaka’s Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (HSIA).

The SAD activists called him a “cohort” Hasina, though Hamid completed his term months ahead of the ouster of the past regime on August 5, 2024.

“The former president went to Thailand for medical treatment. We allowed it as there is no court order against him or embargo by any agency,” the Daily Star newspaper reported, quoting an unnamed “source”.

Authorities suspended two police officers and withdrew another from his assignment in airport immigration on charges of “negligence of duty”.

One of the suspended officials is the investigating officer of cases filed against the ex-head of the state in his northern hometown of Kishoreganj, and another is a police detective.